The University administration unveiled a bias incident reporting system Tuesday. The new system allows members of the University community to file complaints online, by phone or in person.
The University chose to define a bias incident more broadly to encompass incidents that would not necessarily meet the threshold under existing regulations, according to the incident reporting Web site. Existing avenues for pursuing complaints include University Judiciary Committee Standards of Conduct, Office of Equal Opportunity Programs policies, and hate crime laws.
A bias incident is specifically defined as "a threat or act of bigotry, harassment or intimidation -- verbal, written or physical -- which is personally directed against or targets a University of Virginia student because of that student's race, age, color, disability, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or veteran status."
Members of the University community can also report incidents by phone or by visiting Peabody Hall to file a complaint directly with a dean or administrator. Complaints can also be filed anonymously by printing out the form and dropping it off in person or mailing it to Peabody Hall.
"Our hope is that students, staff and faculty will all take advantage of this Web site," University spokesperson Carol Wood said. "Even if people aren't sure if it's a bias incident, they should report it anyway. We really want students to get in the habit of reporting" incidents.
Susan Davis, special assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs, said the administration did consider the possibility of frivolous or false claims coming from the anonymous complaint option, but they ultimately decided allowing anonymity might make persons with suspect information more willing to come forward. Similarly, the anonymous complaints allow non-University personnel to contribute information.
"The site is restricted to U.Va. community members," Davis said. "So if a visitor or parent had witnessed something, we needed to provide means for them to access the form."
Once the University receives the complaint through one of the four methods, copies are forwarded to the University Police Department as well as a number of administrators. The dean on call will contact the reporting student within 24 hours of the complaint to gather additional information. The dean may also consult with other University departments to decide if further actions are necessary.
According to Davis, these actions would depend on the specifics of the situation.
"If the dean working on case has identified a party, it will depend on who is identified," Davis said. "If it is another student, they would look at any facts that might rise to the level of a standard of conduct [UJC violation]
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